I Don't Think We Should See Each Other Anymore
The 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was disappointing. It was creepy and disturbing, and at times, that was entertaining.
But it wasn't all that scary.
My theory: too much Leatherface.
A lot of the time, horror films rely on showing us the villain so we know what's coming. It's a classic way to build tension. But sometimes the fun of a horror is the not knowing. The villain gets no POV. We don't know where they are or what they're planning now. In this film, we spend too much time with the man/creature who should remain an unknown. You actually get the sense, at times, that we're just hanging out with Leatherface as he, you know, tidies up the workshop 'n' stuff. Every minute we spend with him makes us more comfortable with him. We get used to seeing him, to being in the room with him, which takes the shock out of the subsequent times he appears to our heroes.
Remember one of the major lessons of Jaws: it was a blessing Bruce the robot shark sucked. It's so much more frightening that we only catch glimpses of eye and teeth.
Just because the villain's the hook of the movie, doesn't mean he needs a lot of screen time. Let's all show some restraint with our inbred cannibals, allrighty?
The 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was disappointing. It was creepy and disturbing, and at times, that was entertaining.
But it wasn't all that scary.
My theory: too much Leatherface.
A lot of the time, horror films rely on showing us the villain so we know what's coming. It's a classic way to build tension. But sometimes the fun of a horror is the not knowing. The villain gets no POV. We don't know where they are or what they're planning now. In this film, we spend too much time with the man/creature who should remain an unknown. You actually get the sense, at times, that we're just hanging out with Leatherface as he, you know, tidies up the workshop 'n' stuff. Every minute we spend with him makes us more comfortable with him. We get used to seeing him, to being in the room with him, which takes the shock out of the subsequent times he appears to our heroes.
Remember one of the major lessons of Jaws: it was a blessing Bruce the robot shark sucked. It's so much more frightening that we only catch glimpses of eye and teeth.
Just because the villain's the hook of the movie, doesn't mean he needs a lot of screen time. Let's all show some restraint with our inbred cannibals, allrighty?
posted by Jennica at 2:33 p.m.
2 Comments:
You'd almost think it would go without saying, wouldn't you? This principle is at work in so many classic movies, movies that everyone's seen, and most of us have seen several times. It's not subtle, it's not secret, it's not rocket surgery.
I didn't mind seeing Leatherface. I mean, the remake completely failed in just about every possible way, but Leatherface is a scary dude. But boy, those POV scenes (the worst of which, if memory serves, were in the abattoir chase) were painful. ("Leatherface is winded!" "Leatherface has a limp now!" WTF?)
To add to your argument consider Alien. Scant little is seen of the creature throughout the film, which for me made for a much more dramatic effect. I never knew when or where or what I would see of the monster, which kept me that much more on my toes ready to be scared to my hearts content.
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